The Oil Drum

An update on the latest production numbers from the EIA along with graphs/charts of different oil production forecasts. This post is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari who passed away last October.

World oil production (EIA Monthly) for crude oil + NGL. The median forecast is calculated from 13 models that are predicting a peak before 2020 (Bakhtiari, Smith, Staniford, Loglets, Shock model, GBM, ASPO-[70,58,45], Robelius Low/High, HSM). 95% of the predictions  sees a production peak between 2008 and 2010 at 77.5 - 85.0 mbpd (The 95% confidence interval is computed using a bootstrap technique). Click to Enlarge. 

Oil production is highly pyramidal and almost half of the world production is coming from less than 3% of the total number of oilfields. Therefore, tracking large oil projects seems like a good approach and it is generally easy to gather good information about a few hundreds of important projects. The most notorious studies are from Chris Skrebowski (ODAC) that has tracked megaprojects since 2004 (see references at the bottom of this post). Initially, only projects that could produce 100 kbpd and more were included. In 2007, the last update included also 40,000 bpd and more. However, forecasted increases in new production capacity have been overly optimistic. So what went wrong? They are many possible causes: demand destruction due to high prices, significant project delays, withheld capacity, larger decline of the resource base, etc..  Having a good estimate of the decline rate of the resource base (Most estimates are ranging between 2 and 6%/year) is fundamental for the precision of supply forecasts derived from megaproject database (see Rembrandt's recent post). Stuart is also looking at this problem here.

An update on the latest production numbers from the EIA along with graphs/charts of different oil production forecasts.

World oil production (EIA Monthly) for crude oil + NGL. The median forecast is calculated from 13 models that are predicting a peak before 2020 (Bakhiarti, Smith, Staniford, Loglets, Shock model, GBM, ASPO-[70,58,45], Robelius Low/High, HSM). 95% of the predictions  sees a production peak between 2008 and 2010 at 77.5 - 85.0 mbpd (The 95% confidence interval is computed using a bootstrap technique). Click to Enlarge. 

Executive Summary:

1. Broad revision (from 1980 to 2004) by the EIA this month but not significant in amplitude.
2. Monthly production peaks are unchanged: 
1. All Liquids: the peak is still July 2006 at 85.54 mbpd ( 0.11 mbpd), the year to date average production in 2007 (6 months) is  84.28 mbpd ( 0.02 mbpd), down 0.07 mbpd from 2006 for the same period.
2. Crude Oil + NGL: the peak date remains May 2005 at 82.09 mbpd ( 0.01 mbpd), the year to date average production for 2007 (6 months) is  81.20 mbpd ( 0.04 mbpd), down 0.06 mbpd from 2006.
3. Crude Oil + Condensate: the peak date remains May 2005 at 74.30 mbpd ( 0.15 mbpd), the year to date average production for 2007 (6 months) is 73.23 mbpd ( 0.14 mbpd), down 0.25 mbpd from 2006.
4. NGPL: the peak date is still February 2007 at 8.03 mbpd ( 0.21 mbpd), the year to date average production for 2007 (6 months) is  7.97 mbpd ( 0.18 mbpd), up 0.19 mbpd from 2006.
3. Decline in crude oil + condensate continues: June 2007 estimate for crude oil + condensate is 72.82 mbpd compared to 73.11 mbpd one year ago and 73.92 mbpd two years ago.
4. Average forecast: the average forecast for crude oil + NGL based on 13 different projections (Figure above)  is showing a kind of production plateau around 81 +/- 4 mbpd with a decline after 2010 +/- 1 year.

I almost choked on my whisky when I heard on the UK national television news (13/06/07), a story about peak oil and questions asked about oil reserves figures quoted in the newly published BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

The news item was referring to a story in Thursday’s Independent (14/06/07) (a national UK newspaper) by Daniel Howden titled “Scientists challenge major review of global reserves and warn that supplies will start to run out in four years’ time.” Howden refers to the work of Chris Skrebowski (Oil Depletion Analysis Centre or ODAC) and Colin Campbell (Association for Peak Oil or ASPO). Kudos to Chris and to Colin for getting this news onto the front page.

There’s more…..

Note that the Indepent's server has been very slow on occasions. A pdf of Howden's article may be downloaded from the TOD server here

An update on the latest production numbers from the EIA along with graphs/charts of different oil production forecasts.

World oil production (EIA Monthly) for crude oil + NGL. The median forecast is calculated from 12 models that are predicting a peak before 2020 (Bakhiarti, Smith, Staniford, Loglets, Shock model, GBM, ASPO-[70,58,45], Robelius Low/High, HSM). 95% of the predictions  sees a production peak between 2009 and 2011 at 78.23 - 87.12 mbpd (The 95% confidence interval is computed using a bootstrap technique). Click to Enlarge. 

Executive Summary:

1. Monthly production records are unchanged except for NGPL: 
1. All Liquids: the peak is still July 2006 at 85.43 mbpd, the year to date average production in 2007 (2 months) is  84.26 mbpd, up 0.2 mbpd from 2006.
2. Crude Oil + NGL: the peak date remains May 2005 at 82.08 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2007 (2 months) is  81.24 mbpd, down 0.06 mbpd from 2006.
3. Crude Oil + Condensate: the peak date remains May 2005 at 74.15 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2007 (2 months) is 73.09 mbpd, down 0.25 mbpd from 2006.
4. NGPL: the peak date is now February 2007 at 8.24 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2007 (2 months) is  8.15 mbpd, up 0.19 mbpd from 2006.
2. Decline in crude oil + condensate continues: February 2007 estimate for crude oil + condensate is 73.35 mbpd compared to 73.47 mbpd one year ago.
3. New forecasts added: Projections from Frederik Robelius and the Hybrid Shock Model.
4. Average forecast: the average forecast for crude oil + NGL based on 12 different projections is showing a kind of production plateau around 83 +/- 4 mbpd with a decline after 2010 +/- 1 year.

The following is a guest post by Phil Hart, a petroleum facilities engineer and member of ASPO-Australia. Phil worked for Shell in the UK for five years, before returning home to Melbourne in late 2006. Phil's blog can be found here.

Following a summary of EIA data for 2006, I thought I would make a more detailed country-by-country estimate of the potential for 2007.

Starting with the headline EIA figures for last year:

Crude Oil and Condensate: 73.5 Mb/d (down 0.2)
Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs): 7.9 Mb/d (up 0.14)
Other Liquids: 3.3 Mb/d (up 0.08)

Total Liquids: 84.6 Mb/d (up an insignificant 0.02)
Mb/d = million barrels per day
kb/d = thousand barrels per day

Numbers for November and December suggest real OPEC production cuts in Algeria, Libya, Qatar and UAE. The total cut could be 230kb/d which knocks around 50kb/d off annual average production. I did not expect to find evidence for cuts, but that's how the data looks to me - four small cuts made at the same time by countries that otherwise increased their production last year through announced projects. Thus, I believe those four OPEC members, but only those four, have the ability to restore that production. Without those cuts, crude and condensate production would still be clearly down, but total liquids would have shown a somewhat more significant increase.

Une revue des dernières estimations de la production mondiale de pétrole publiées mensuellement par l'EIA (Agence Américaine de l'Énergie) ainsi qu'une revue, non exhaustive, de différents modèles et prévisions sur la production future.

Fig 1.- Production mondiale mensuelle (EIA mensuelle) pour pétrole brut + NGL. Le modèle médian est calculé à partir de la médiane des 9 modèles qui prévoient un pic avant 2020 (Bakhiarti, Smith, Staniford, Loglets,  Shock model, GBM, ASPO-[70,58,45]). Cliquez pour agrandir.

An update on the latest production numbers from the EIA along with graphs/charts of different oil production forecasts.

World oil production (EIA Monthly) for crude oil + NGL. The median forecast is calculated from 9 models that are predicting a peak before 2020 (Bakhiarti, Smith, Staniford, Loglets,  Shock model, GBM, ASPO-[70,58,45]). Click to Enlarge.

Executive Summary:

1. Monthly production records are unchanged: 
1. All Liquids: the peak is still July 2006 at 85.47 mbpd, the year to date average production in 2006 (11 months) is  84.59 mbpd, up 0.01 mbpd from 2005.
2. Crude Oil + NGL: the peak date remains May 2005 at 82.08 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2006 (11 months) is  81.40 mbpd, down 0.03 mbpd from 2005 (11 months).
3. Crude Oil + Condensate: the peak date remains May 2005 at 74.15 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2006 (11 months) is 73.48 mbpd, down 0.09 mbpd from 2005 (11 months).
4. NGPL: the peak date remains February 2005 at 8.05 mbpd, the year to date average production for 2006 (11 months) is  7.92 mbpd, up 0.06 mbpd from 2005 (11 months).
2. No major revisions on the previous monthly estimates in this month release. 
3. Weak growth continues: November 2006 estimate for crude oil + condensate is 73.41 mbpd compared to 74.11 mbpd one year ago.

A French version is also available on TOD:Canada here

Une revue des dernières estimations de la production mondiale de pétrole publiées mensuellement par l'EIA (Agence Américaine de l'Énergie) ainsi qu'une revue, non exhaustive, de différents modèles et prévisions sur la production future.

Fig 1.- Production mondiale mensuelle (EIA mensuelle) et différentes prédictions (2001-2027). Cliquez pour agrandir.

Quoi de neuf?

• Michael Smith, Energy Institute (Monde, CO+NGL, 2006)
• Michael Smith, (Arabie Saoudite, 2006)